Have a favorite trail recipe or technique you'd like to share? Please do! We also like reviews of various trail food products out there. The Backcountry Food Topix forum is the place to discuss all things related to food and nourishment while in the Sierra wilderness (as well as favorite trail head eateries).

I have great difficulty figuring out what to eat during the day when on a long trip. I have a revulsion to dry (sugary) food bars. I prefer hot soups but dislike cooking mid-day.

Also, how to you folks all look so clean and fresh on the trail when I'm feeling like a sweat bag? I have difficulty getting into ice cold water (it's an age thing). Your cloths always look freshly laundered and maybe even ironed. What's going on there?

Last edited by LonePine on Tue Mar 26, 2019 6:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Salami, dry cheese like Reggiano, and crackers for lunch. On longer trips we take two kinds of each, and mix and match for variety from day to day,

As for looking fresh, I have a USN tropical khaki dress shirt that stays looking pressed for weeks. I wash it once every three or four days, and within 30 minutes in the sun, it's ready to go again. And while I don't jump in lakes or streams, a quiet rinse off every day or two makes a big difference, both in cleanliness and my own personality...

Goat Cheese and crackers for two days. Salami and cheese sticks - sealed - for a couple days. Tortilla/flat bread and packets o nut butter. Avocado, cream cheese packet, cranberries in a tortilla is a first day indulgence. Cheese, even goat cheese, keeps pretty well if sealed and for a couple of days once open if the temps are mild. Non sugary bars and trail mix as snacks to supplement.

We've found that a hard cheese like Reggiano or something similar keeps well in your backpack for up to a week. It's very salty and that helps. But it gets chilled every night in the sierra, and if you pack it up, tightly sealed and inside your pack, is doesn't get that much warmer during the day.

I prefer to eat a big hot breakfast and then only munch lightly all day on nuts and dry fruit (GORP without the candy). I use the individually packaged sharp cheddar cheese sticks because they keep better than a chunk of cheese. Then I have a big hot dinner. I find that I do not get hungry on the trail and eating too much makes me feel bloated. However, not a plan if you are not a breakfast person.

I am also old (hey- just turned 70 ) and do a quick dip in cold lakes or streams, or scoop water over me if the water has a lot of algae on the bottom. The trick is to take the dip immediately after hiking before you cool off. Once you cool off it is REALLY hard to go into cold water. You could also do the "bath" mid day. I use a really light thin undershirt and wash it every day (actually use it as my towel and then wash it). I wash my long sleeved fishing shirt about every 3rd day. I also make a point of stopping at about 4 PM every day so I have enough sunlight left for these chores.

Savory foods like salami and various types of hardy cheeses are an obvious way to go. Salty items like nuts, pretzels, crackers. There are Indian and Japanese snacks that provide variety. Little packets of tuna. Whatever works. It helps to have a partner to mooch off of when your own selection seems grim. But many savory foods are harder to digest when on the go so it helps to have some simple sugary stuff too, whether it's energy bars or just candy.

For stinky stuff it's worth taking a ziplock that advertises itself as smell proof. I often carry really stinky, soft, washed rind cheeses and if I don't put them in a smell proof ziplock then everything smells like cheese. I also sometimes carry an onion that I add to my afternoon salami sandwich. Like the cheese, the onion has to be sealed up or else it stinks. You could use one for trash.

As for staying clean, who cares? I never get in the water either. Being unwashed is a healthy thing that you can't get away with in the city. Embrace the filth!

I'm another one in favor of a tuna pack and a couple of tortillas. Also I bring the Spam Singles and peanutbutter packages to eat as they are or even better wraped in a tortilla. A lot of places like Packet Gourmet sell wrap ingredients that just need cold water and can even be hydrated before you break camp in the morning.

"On this proud and beautiful mountain we have lived hours of fraternal, warm and exalting nobility. Here for a few days we have ceased to be slaves and have really been men. It is hard to return to servitude."
-- Lionel Terray